As postsecondary online programs increase, the accessibility of online course content becomes a serious issue in higher education. There is currently little information about how postsecondary institutions address online course accessibility. This exploratory mixed-methods study examined the degree to which university online course checklists…

The purpose of this quantitative research study was to describe the faculty's knowledge, beliefs, and willingness to provide ADA accommodations to students with disabilities at a Southern HBCU. The sample used in this study was 70 full-time and part-time instructors who taught during the Spring of 2023 at a Southern HBCU. The study utilized a…

This study examined the level of readiness of faculty in designing and delivering accessible online courses to meet the needs of all learners, including students with disabilities. A total of 182 tenured/non-tenured full time, part-time, adjunct and clinical faculty from three public universities of different sizes were surveyed to gauge their…

This research investigates the characteristics of a faculty inquiry group, a learning community in which faculty and staff can learn technology integration to enhance accessibility for students with disabilities in higher education, based on Wenger's 14 indicators (1998) and their learning effects. The results reveal that this faculty inquiry…

Research highlights the importance of faculty awareness regarding the varying needs of students with disabilities and the ways in which these students may better be supported within the postsecondary educational setting. However, there is a dearth of research regarding how instructional and assessment accommodations are offered in a rural…

Universal design for learning (UDL) is a research-based framework intended to optimise student learning by including student choice of content, process, and product in design. The UDL model recommends presenting course content in multiple ways, providing students various options for engagement, and then facilitating choice in expressing knowledge…

With the growth of online learning, as well as the use of technology to supplement in-person learning, technology has enabled many opportunities for creating highly interactive and highly accessible learning environments. However, it is important to design learning environments to be accessible to diverse learners and learners with disabilities.…

This study investigated online faculty familiarity, course design use, and professional development interest regarding universal design for learning (UDL) guidelines. The researchers surveyed all 2017 to 2018 online faculty at a large university in the southeastern United States. Findings included 71.6% of faculty reporting familiarity with at…

Creating accessible instruction has been a subject of debate and lawsuits since the Civil Rights Movement. Examples include "Mills v. Board of Education" in 1972 discussed the 14th Amendment of equal rights in public K-12 education; instances involving extracurricular after-school programs, such as the YMCA Middle Tennessee Agreement for…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), signed into law on December 10, 2015, requires that state education agencies (SEAs) establish standardized, statewide entrance and exit procedures for their English learners (ELs), including ELs with disabilities. For certain ELs with…

This study presents a unique assessment of faculty perspectives about teaching and working with students with disabilities against the backdrop of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). A randomized sample of 127 faculty from a large Midwest comprehensive university completed the…

Intended as professional development for both new and experienced special educators, this article provides both the basic requirements and nuanced issues for foundational, successive, and overlapping key components under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): (a) child find, (b) eligibility, and (c) free appropriate public…

People with disabilities are chronically underrepresented in many geoscience departments across the country. There are a number of proposed reasons why this under-representation persists, one of which is lack of instructor training in designing accessible curriculum and making high-quality accommodations. This not only puts students with…

The mission and vision of adult education is to provide every individual in Illinois access to Adult Education and Literacy services. In Illinois, more than 1.15 million adults have less than 12 grades of formal education, approximately 2.8 million Illinois residents speak a language other than English in their home, and more than 350,944…

Meaningful technology use in education continues to improve given an increase in access to available technologies and professional development. For educators, professional development has focused on approaches for technology use that foster content-specific best practices and improve student learning in traditional classroom formats. Meaningful…